Reuters: France 'totally sure' budget will win EU approval

19 October 2014

Der Spiegel reports that Germany and France are secretly discussing a deal to enable the European Commission to approve Paris's draft budget

"I am totally sure at this stage that there will be no negative opinion from the Commission," he said in a joint interview with RTL radio, LCI television and Le Figaro daily.

France announced earlier this month it would not bring its deficit within the euro zone's 3 percent of national output ceiling until 2017, four years later than promised, risking becoming the first EU country to have its fiscal plan rejected.

The European Commission, the EU executive, will scrutinize draft euro zone budgets to ensure they are in line with EU rules. If the main parameters of a draft budget fall well short of the country's earlier consolidation promises, the Commission can send the draft back until the end of the month for changes.

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Paris, Berlin work on French budget deal for EU - Spiegel

Germany and France are secretly discussing a deal to enable the European Commission to approve Paris's draft 2015 budget even though it breaks past deficit-cutting commitments, German weekly Der Spiegel said on Sunday.

The two governments are working on a written agreement under which France will provide the Commission with a detailed roadmap for deficit reduction and structural reform, the weekly reported, without naming its source.

In return, Germany would overlook France's repeated flouting of its pledge to bring its budget deficit inside the euro zone's 3 percent of national output ceiling and oppose any sanctions that the European Commission might propose.

Berlin played down the report, with a German government official saying it was wrong and that there was no agreement.

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